Since Matthew Teitelbaum joined the Museum of Fine Arts as its Ann and Graham Gund Director in August 2015, over 8.3 million people have experienced the museum’s collection and exhibitions.
Over the last ten years of his leadership, Teitelbaum, who will step down in June, has worked to refocus the museum on its mission to become a more inclusive institution for the city.
Lisbeth Tarlow, who currently serves as an Honorary Trustee, was the chair of the Board of Trustees when Teitelbaum was selected as director.
She said that in searching for a new director for the museum, the trustees were ready to “take the museum to a new level” by introducing it to wider audiences.
“We felt that it wasn’t really paying attention to the next generation and to the broader community,” Tarlow said. “So we knew we had a phenomenal collection, we had a great base, but it was time to really be part of the community.”
Through a strategic plan enacted in 2017 called “MFA 2020,” the museum began implementing a number of new methods to reach out to wider audiences and invest in the future of museums.
One way the MFA shifted its perception in the community was through its change in visual identity.
In 2022, the MFA moved from more formal serif type to bold, modern text and pops of color — led by the tagline “Here All Belong.”
“[It] was permeated in our strategic plan, that notion of being a more welcoming institution,” Teitelbaum said. “[We] then introduced our new visual identity, which came out of the strategic plan, which was about openness.”
But in making that idea a “lived value,” as Teitelbaum said, there were more changes to be made.
“You can do that in terms of admissions policies. You can do that in terms of hours of operation…but you also have to do that with your staff,” he said. “You want to get different life experiences. You want people talking to each other, because the more diversity, the better the outcome.”
One way that the MFA is working to increase diversity is the introduction of their “MFA Pathways” program in which all interns are paid.
Teitelbaum said that while many people might still intern at the MFA even if it was unpaid, not everyone has the opportunity or the means, so paid internships are “the clear expression” of the museum’s value of diversity.
The Senior Director of Academic Engagement and Research, Dalia Habib Linssen, said that one of the program’s major goals is “understanding that the future of museums is closely aligned with and reflected by their communities.”
Linssen, who is an alum of the BU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said, “[This] goal is centered around mitigating barriers to professions in museums for students from all different kinds of backgrounds, and one of the drivers of that goal is compensation.”
Linssen also credits Teitelbaum for his support of the program since its introduction.
“Matthew’s been an incredibly strong champion of this program,” she said. “His support for the program really grows out of his deep belief that this is a museum for Boston, and [he] is really connected to the role of community in the future of museums.”
As he is preparing to step down with long-time curator Pierre Terjanian as his successor, Teitelbaum says that he is feeling a sense of pride.
“I’m feeling connected to people very much,” he said. “I have moments when I think I’m really going to miss this…they’re real moments, but I’m going to do something else, and I wanted to change the chapter.”
So what will the next chapter look like?
“When I shared with the board my intention to step down, I said that sometimes you have to give up something you love to discover something about yourself,” he said.
Teitelbaum described that his plans for the future are in teaching, writing and advising. But what he is most excited about, he said, is the notion of “being engaged with the next generation.”
“[I am exploring] how I can help share my experiences to create a framework for the way in which younger colleagues, newer colleagues can think about the future of the profession,” he said. “That has something to do with helping people understand what the future of museums might be.”
This story was published at 12:00 p.m.